Cuyahoga County celebrates new life on E. 9th

CLEVELAND -- You've seen the construction for months. But today, the new Cuyahoga County administrative headquarters hits the next chapter.

The building opens Tuesday afternoon.

It's located near 9th and Prospect downtown. It's part of the former Ameritrust complex, now known as "The 9." High-end apartments, hotel space and eventually a new Heinen's grocery store are set to open later.

The headquarters will house most of the county's employees under one roof. The departments that will move in include: the executive office, county council, fiscal, human resources, development, inspector general, planning commission, procurement and diversity, internal audit, information technology, public works, and public safety and justice services.

Local political leaders say the new headquarters could save the county $84 million throughout 20 years.

"We're able to get out of old leases, out of old buildings and sell them off and consolidate [employees] in one place," says County Executive Ed FitzGerald. "So, if you average out all of those kind of overhead costs, and the fact that we're getting out of some of the 60-plus buildings that the county used to own and operate or lease, it ends up being quite a bit of money."

The new building is also more energy efficient.

FitzGerald says it could take up to two weeks for all employees to move into the new space.